Date: March 1997
To: koenig @ cyberlink.ch
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Hello. I use the usual Thelemic greeting, not knowing whether it is
your Personal Magickal paridigm, but as a salute to one who I believe
to be a practitioner of the spirit and philosophy of Thelema.
By way of introduction, My name is C**. I have been a student of
Crowley's works and a practioner of Magick for approximately 22 years.
I was initiated into the Caliphate branch of the O.T.O. in November of
1978 e.v. This is in no way meant to imply my qualified "pedigree" or
standing in any organization, or the magickal community at large, but
simply as a point of background in the information that we appear to
share an interest in.
In 1985 upon hearing of the death of Grady McMurtry, the late Caliph
and a good friend, I became involved in the publishing of a new volume
of the then defunct "Mezla", formerly the newsletter of the Typhonian
O.T.O. This I did in partnership with the previous editor of same, a
former 5th degree member of Grant's order who had been expelled for
taking cross initiation into the Caliphate under my auspices. Frater
P.V.N. and myself felt that with the bickering taking place in the
caliphate over the succession, even before Grady's death, that it
didn't have much of a future. Obviously we were wrong, at least on one
level of abstraction.
We published Mezla as a "Heretical Organ of the O.T.O." with the idea
of transcending partisan politics and getting down to the basic work of
"doing" magick instead of wasting time fighting about who was the
"real" O.T.O. One of the traditions of Mezla was to publish a
previously unavailable writing by Crowley. I posessed a copy of the
infamous "Emblems and Modes of Use"which we published in that issue.
For this I was expelled from the order and pronounced "Anathema" from
Thelema by Hymenaeus Beta himself over the phone. ( how medieval Roman
Catholic or even Marcello Motta like). I have still never received the
courtesy of formal written notice. He also seemed particularly upset
that we had no money to turn over to him on demand as we had not
bothered to charge anyone anything for the issue.
Closer to the present, I was lent a few old copies of Nuit/Isis
magazine last year by a friend and was delighted to see your series of
articles on the early history of the order. I still have a fondness in
my heart for what you might describe as "the ideal of what a 20th
century Thelemic magickal order could be". At the very least I have a
fascination for the early history of the current magickal revival, and
my "ancestors"in this tradition. My friend (a current caliphate member,
though non-dogmatic about it) informed me that you had incurred the
wrath of the that order in your publishing of these articles and in
subsequent writings dealing with the 9th degree "secret". As he knows
of my history, he took particular joy in telling me of his belief,
based on information from the German branch of the Caliphate, that you
had obtained a copy of "Emblems" from our Mezla. That would be rich
irony. A handing down the time-line of heresy. If this is true, please
understand that this is not a request or demand for recognition or
anything else of that nature. It IS an endorsement of your courage in a
time of their more strident legal action and a gesture of gratitude to
a comrade in the effort to guard the mysteries by seeing that they are
available to those who hold their value dear. If you obtained the
document elsewhere, it is just as well. So long as the information is
made available to those who would use it and not simply hoard it or
share it with select cronies and lackeys.
I write to you now because I just came across your dialogue with Tyagi
in Alt. Magick on the 9th degree conferment which included your online
address. In beautiful synchronicity, I received an E-Mail from my
friend informing me that he has just obtained a book by you containing
material on the O.T.O. and A.A. rituals. I would be interested in
obtaining one myself, and would also like to know if you have collated
the articles from Nuit/Isis in a book. Looking forward to hearing from
you (if you so will) about the topics above. Yours in the spirit of
free people exchanging information freely,